East Bridgewater artist creates 'thread art'

Thursday

For the past 20 years, Virginia Fresina, a mother and homemaker, has found fulfillment in sewing art for the world to see. Her studio is in Rockland.

Perseverance and patience are the formula for success for Virginia Fresina of East Bridgewater, whose original artwork has been displayed at museums south of Boston and elsewhere in the state.

In what she calls “thread art,” Fresina, 70, makes artistic images on muslin and other fabrics. No two works are alike, and she describes the process as “creative” and “freeing.”

“These needle-and-thread pieces are all that I am,” she said.

Fresina first creates a free-hand drawing on linen or other fabric. Then she selects a certain color thread, and brings a threaded needle up through the linen and back down again, creating a small mark of color. She repeats the process over and over again, changing the color of the thread as she goes along to suit the image she is creating.

For the past 20 years, the mother and homemaker has found fulfillment in stitching art for the world to see.

“My goal is to continue with my art and see where it takes me,” said Fresina.

Thread art is not Fresina’s only specialty.

At her studio in Rockland, Fresina paints and creates a variety of three-dimensional pieces using paper and mixed media.

Dabbling in acrylics on canvas as well as “sculpture-style” works with paint and paper, Fresina uses her imagination to create myriad pieces that cross multiple media and styles.

Once finished, Fresina’s works are exhibited at local art shows and craft museums, with many available for sale.

While she has a passion for all her works, Fresina hopes to establish a unique reputation with her thread art.

It’s been featured at the South Shore Art Center, Duxbury Art Museum and the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham.

“I go through a period of maybe two years making art and then I say to myself, ‘This needs to be seen,’” said Fresina.

Sarah Hannan, executive director of the Cohasset-based South Shore Art Center, recalled Fresina’s thread art being in an event called the “National Drawing Show.”

“I remember people commenting on how she drew with thread where everybody else was using some other material,” said Hannan. “She’s pretty accomplished.”

“Drawing is essentially mark-making, and I was impressed by her ability to use an unconventional material to make marks on a surface,” said French. “I’m very interested in alternative and unconventional materials and their use in drawing and I thought she did this beautifully.”

“She was well-received in the members show,” added French.

For the artist, the process of making her art is the biggest thrill.

Fresina sports a sign — a gift from her children — over the kitchen counter at her home in East Bridgewater that says: “Hold fast to your dreams.”

“To have a piece of art is fine but it’s the journey that’s exciting,” said Fresina.